More Disabled

Eno Sarris looks at the increase in disabled list usage and wonders if something is going on:

So disabled list trips are up about 50% compared to the five-year average going into this season. That seems less than ideal.

And it’s going to get worse. It looks like the Dodgers built their team for this new reality, filling their roster with decent major-league pitchers who could rotate in and out as the disabled list allows. As much as other teams with different levels of resources can copycat this, it’s likely they will (if they haven’t already).

If you feel there’s a whiff of the nefarious here, you’re not alone. If you don’t get why more players on the DL might facilitate more underhanded dealings, imagine this totally real hypothetical. A veteran with no more options is struggling as a young player comes off the disabled list. That old player either reads the writing on the wall and grabs a hammy, or, as teams have long done, someone convinces that player into taking a 15-day break to ease a roster constriction. I’ve personally heard stories from veteran pitchers detailing how the team let them know that the choice was between release and the disabled list. Now teams have even more pressure to do the same, as 50% more players are on the disabled list at any given moment.

One thing Sarris doesn’t mention is that MLB requires a medical reason for a player to go on the disabled list. A player just can’t say, “My hamstring is sore.” He needs to be examined by a doctor and the doctor needs to certify the player is hurt. Can that be abused? Sure, but doctors do have reputations to uphold.

Of course, this may be what MLB wanted:

The positive spin on this situation is that maybe, once the dust settles, we’ll see some reduction in days lost. Players can take a 10-day breather in a situation where they would have previously attempted to return too early. Maybe a little bit of preventative rest will reduce the amount of catastrophic injury. Trips up, days down might be the slogan.

I think that trade-off would be worth it.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2pVIbE9